SYRIA JUKUA ARABIA THE green light given by the Reagan administration to torturers and dictatorships around the has been received gratefully by Turkey's military rulers.
There dre NOW estimated 100,000 political prisoners in Turkey's jails.
There have also been deaths custody, and four youths including one lo-yearhad boy been Erdal Eren have executed following conviction by a military tribunal.
The main target of repression has been the well-organised Turkish labour Slashed Various hard WON benefits are being Sashed the minimum wage, pensions, redundanc! payments working week has been exlended to 56 hours.
This is all part of the *economic revolution' demanded by the International Monetarv rund.lt 1s a determined attempt to the organised workers' movement and to salvage Turkey's paralysed and bankrupt capitalist 2.000 leaders of the DISK current trial Baghdad • IRAQ 1925-26 the Turks massacred 250,000 Kurds.
Slogans such as Turk is worth the whole universe' still adorn the schools and barracks, and are part and parcel of the ideology of Ataturkism to which the present junta subscribes. Shot It is no surprise that the majority of those shot in the streets by the military since the coup September been in ine kuraisa region, and that Kurdish nationalists Have Dece muscululalcy rounded up and imprisoned.
For the military's purposes, the singing of a Kurdish folksong evidence enough of KurThe growing resistance to national oppression was one of the major features of Turkey's political and social crisis at the time of the coup. The junta's first declaration referred to the threat of secessionism' as the pretext for the coup.
Reports are currently filtering out Turkey that 92 Kurds are facing execution as a result of "secessionist activities' in other words, attempting speak their own language, wear lnel own costume, and Ul callse shake off centuries of op- their people pression and suffering.
After of among the leaders of Solidarity. Karol Modzelewski, the national commission's press spokesperson, over the way the agreement was reached.
has arisen between moderates, who include Walesa, and more radical leaders. THERE was an increase in prices valurady.
Monday the people went to the head office here they discovered that the •tector mad no mamence over price rises and could OnLY DOSS DIV bonus by about 5%.
So, 300 people from the shipyard went to the Regional Committee building to ask for an explanation.
When they didn't come back for a long time a se cond group was organised to see what was nappening. I was with them. Students Afterwards we went to the polytechnic apologise for not helping during uncl March 1968 demonstrahOne for bread and freedom. The rector came oul and sala inal tne deci sion to raise prices was correct, our nobody listened to him.
LABOUR FOCUS ON BASTERN BUROPE issue of Focus on Eastern Europe, the authoritative journal of events Easterr Europe. Dossier on Polish struggle and building of Solidarnosc. £1.50 packed pages. Write to: LFEE, Box 23, 135 Kingsland High St, London E8.
resigned Another dispute over union tactics the union 1970 Polish riots The students talked to us and promised help. But when went again rom, naraly anybody wa. there. It turned out that Thev were shut u a lie student hostels. However many them jumped through the windows and joined us later.
A cordon of police was standing near and now things began. The first police cannister burst spreading tear gas around A crowd was massing ANNA Gdansk shipyards, the moderates.
issue of Labour Focus army. near Iwa. through a loudhailer • for the people to go back to work. shipyard worker climbing on to the roof of a tram. bar ripping freas shia nd bare and shouting: 'Shoot! have we got to live for? But at that time there had not yet been any shooting.
On my way back, I met some colleagues who were WALENTYNOWICZ, veteran campaigner for trade union rights, and a crane driver from the has come under fire for her criticisms of Walesa and Below we reprint from the latest on Eastern Europe her account of the events of 1970 when a similar workers' upsurge was defeated by the Polish police and Till coming out of the rows of smipyards, dressed asbestos overalls and safety-helmets. 1 raised my hands in the air and called: 'Wait minute You've got to think it over. But nobody heard The people shouted, 'The ar my's here.
From all sides came the volleys. helicopter was firing into the shipyard Policemen disguised as soldiers were firing at people coming in_ to the shipyard.
The first dead fell the hospital hung white sheets on which red crosses had been drawn in the those murdered. There were very many sheets, so many had fallen.
And later.. I don't know, I was slaving away in une kicnen ine time. I was there when the shipyard workers capitu• lated. often thought anerwards those who perished. Will their blood be a poisoned seed or a sign of reconciliation?
I found myself on the list of those to be dismiss ed. However, Iwa. selected for the delegation to go to Warsaw for meeting with the authorities This was in January 1971. Three coaches were brought up and off we not to Warsaw however, but only to the offices of the Regional National Counpoint the topicsel tatives the highest authorities entered a very sharp discussion. And this certainly convinced uS like shouted Gierek: will help.
Tears Just like the others 1 believed that they wer real tears that ran down lne genuieman s cnecks he spoke: and that while he remained Minister of in ternal Affairs there would bloodshed , I felt that I was being recharged with hope and faith like a battery But disillusion was quick to follow.
A month passed, and the agitation didn't stop In May 1971 a strike exploded. I ran to the head office where a crowd had already gathered. It turned out that one of the cause of the conflict was a new svstem of dividing bonu ses. People still remem bered Jaroszewicz's proOurselve decide how to allocate them Why, once again, had nobody asked us our opi nion? He was disregarding the December troubles and a rumour round that he was working for the UB (Secret Police)
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Turkey: What the generals are trying to sweep under the carpet
THE latest agreement with the Polish government following the Bydgoszcz affair has led to open differences
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